On the lower reach of Damagou River in Tarim Basis, there was a desertified area once an oasis, it was about 80 square kilometers. On the ancient oasis area, many relics were scattered, such as Huyangdun Buddha temple ruins, Tuopulukedun Buddha Temple ruins, Big Graveyard, Huyang Graveyard, Kalaqin Ancient City, and Sipier Ancient City. The textual research shows the Kalaqin Ancient City was Kanchengzhen (Kanzhou) in Tang Dynasty, also the Phema City. In those years, the Kalaqin Ancient City was of a large population, commercially developed, and prosperous for Buddhism, but abandoned and desertified after 790 A.D. The Sipier Ancient City was the former capital of Qule State in Han Dynasty, but also abandoned and desertified in late Wei and Jin dynastys. The author analyzed two stages of desertification in the ancient oases and its causes.
The water area of Dianchi Lake is basically stable from Ming and Qing dynasties thanks to the annual dredging of the Haikou area. Still, seasonal change in water level is not completely solved due to frequent flood disasters. The deep rice was gradually planted systematically in Ming and Qing dynasties along the coast of Dianchi Lake to adapt to the seasonal changes in the waters in the Dianchi Lake, realizing the ecological coupling of low-field deepwater rice cultivation with seasonal changes in the water level. The situation changed completely in the late 1960s. With the construction of reservoirs and other water conservancy projects in the upper reaches of the Dianchi Lake, the lakeside and low fields were gradually drained, and the water environment for the deepwater rice was lost. From the point of view of the interactive relationship between the water environment of the Dianchi Lake and rice-growing ecology, if only the regional environment changes regularly for a long time, human beings may gradually turn “harm” into “benefit”, which is the proof of human wisdom to adapt to and make use of nature.
During Ming and Qing dynasties, the water environment of Fuzhou’s West Lake gradually deteriorated. In Ming Dynasty, the water source of West Lake was abundant and the water quality was good. Since Wanli’s reign, affected by social factors such as land reclamation, the West Lake shrunk in size and the water quality was affected. In the middle to late Qing Dynasty, waterways in Fuzhou were shallow, and the river tide eventually disappeared. The changes in water environment of the West Lake during the Ming and Qing dynasties were not only affected by regional climate change in humidity, forest soil and water conservation, and lake sedimentation, but also closely related to water and land disputes. Due to the dire human-land bearing ratio, the unclear ownership of water resources, and the vague taxation regulations on newly reclaimed lake fields, excessive lake reclamation became inevitable. The local government made considerable efforts, such as repairing floodgates and protecting lake embankment, turning the reclaimed land back to water surface, cleaning up feces and silt, etc., which achieved phased effects. However, affected by the socio-economic factors such as population pressure, land resource limits and ecological patterns, the West Lake still deteriorated due to the accumulated problems over the centuries.
Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty adjusted the administrative divisions in Huainan region and Wu region after the “Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms”. The King of Runan was transfered to be the King of Jiangdu, governing Dongyang Prefecture and the northern counties in the old Zhang Prefecture. The rest of the old Zhang Prefecture was merged with the Kuaiji Prefecture to form the new Kuaiji Prefecture. Similarly, The King of Lujiang became King of Hengshan and the new prefecture of Lujiang was established in the southeast of the old Hengshan kingdom. The original Lujiang south to the Yangtze River was combined with Yuzhang to form the new Yuzhang Prefecture. This adjustment was not only a part of the centralization policy, but also a reconstruction of the political geography in the southeast region.
The name of the Marquises in Western Han Dynasty went through a process of evolving from “Houyi” (marquis city) to “Houguo” (marquis state). Based on comprehensive use the materials of county of handed down documents, seals, clay-sealed materials, bamboo slips, it can be inferred that the time when marquis cities changed their names to marquis states was around the third year during Emperor Wen’s Reign. The main reasons for the change were the gradual decline of the status of the marquises in the Western Han Dynasty, and the indistinction between the Houyi and Tangmuyi, and the increase in numbers of counties bearing the same name. The change of marquis city to marquis state was not only a change of name, but also reflected the changes of the nature of the marquises in the Western Han Dynasty. The marquises gradually lost their relatively independent status. Clarifying the difference between Houyi and Tangmuyi can provide a reliable basis for judging the nature and age of the county materials in the unearthed literature, and further promote in-depth studies on the county in Han dynasty.
The anonymous Zuo Shanmu Fangpai Yaolan (Keys to Chinese Fir Wood Business and River Transportation) offers a slightly different view from previously discovered and rather common itinerary books on the Xin’an River-Qiantang River business journey. In addition to the place names and the distance along the way, it also includes many rules of wood business operation, which makes it a comprehensive business manual. Accordingly, we can explore the many facts of Huizhou merchants’ conducts in timber industry in the Qiantang River basin. The book contains business secrets of Hui-Xi merchants engaged in Qugang timber transportation and marketing, including five sections of continuous water routes along the way and a land route back to the hometown. On that basis, we can outline the route of Hui-Xi merchants engaged in Qugang wood business, and examine their related business norms more closely. From this point of view, the success of Hui merchants in the traditional times depended not only on their abundant wealth and higher cultural quality, but was also closely related to the relevant technologies and business norms they professed and spread.
In order to deal with the problem of immigrants’ household registration in Qing Dynasty, the special immigrant Tujia (图甲) was established outside the existing Tujia system. This study takes the new document of Tujia booklets, Tujia contracts and Tujia ledgers in Yichun County as core data to analyze the running of Tujia system in the immigrant society in Yichun County, from its construction, abolishment, and actual operation in the county. A preliminary investigation shows that the Tujia system in Yichun County was deeply influenced by immigrants, and they not only entered the original Tujia system in large numbers, but also established a special immigrant Tujia. The actual operation of Tujia is based on various “wine placement” activities. Through the wine placement ceremony, the scattered members of Tujia were contacted to deepen mutual recognition, discuss and decide the affairs in the system, and to clarify their respective responsibilities and obligations in the form of contracts.
The Imjin War (1592-1598) was an important historical event with far-reaching influence in East Asia at the end of the 16th Century. The importance of the formation of Huayi Yanhai Tu, a map related with the war situation, is also noteworthy in academic cartography. Through a comprehensive analysis of both Chinese and Korean historical accounts, especially intensive examinations of the Annals of the Chosǒn Dynasty and Korean geographic records, this study reveals an increase in the exchange of geographic knowledge between Ming China and Chosǒn Korea during the late 16th Century. When the Ming official Song Yingchang, who was in charge of the military affairs in Korea, directed the production of Huayi Yanhai Tu (the Coastal Map of China and the Barbarians), he relied not only on his accumulated knowledge but also his direct experience in Korea. This led to the timeliness and accuracy of this map, showing a strategic transformation of the Ming government’s management of the Bohai and Yellow Sea region. There were profound implications behind his selection and handling of specific geographic information. The display and interpretation of seemingly minor information could be effective tools for presenting political stances and military thoughts.
This paper compares the geographical elements, such as traffic stations, river systems, village names, and prefectures or counties’ names, of the northeastern part of the three measured maps in Qing Dynasty, including two versions of the Kangxi Huangyu Quanlan Tu, the Yongzheng Shipai Tu and the Qianlong Shisanpai Tu. It shows that, at least in the northeastern part, the copper plate version of the Huangyu Quanlan Tu’s relationship with the Shipai Tu and the Shisanpai Tu is closer than that of the Fuchs version of Huangyu Quanlan Tu. And the geographical element information in Shisanpai Tu was mainly derived from the Shipai Tu.
Modern maps drawn using scientific surveying and mapping technology are precious historical geographical data source, directly showing land cover information in the past. Digitization is a necessary way to extract the historical land cover and its changes from old maps. This paper proposes an old map digitization method based on machine learning and image morphology analysis, and takes the “Eastern China: Shanghai” map as an example to elaborate its implementation process and verify the effectiveness. Results show that the method can fully utilize the color information and morphological information in the map, and extract the surface water information quickly and accurately in a semi-automatic manner. The proposed method can be applied to the digital extraction of land cover information with color characteristics in most color modern maps. It shows great potential to provide both data and method basis for accurately restoring land cover changes and understanding the evolution in man-land relationship since modern times.
